14 DAY TRIAL // A new generation Xbox console, the so-called Xbox 720, is eagerly awaited by Swedish development studio Avalanche, responsible for the hit Just Cause and Just Cause 2 games released for the current Xbox 360 console.
The next generation of consoles is on everyone's mind, and a recent job listing from Microsoft who wanted an engineer capable of creating a brand new, next-generation games console, seemingly confirmed that Microsoft is, in fact, working on a successor to its Xbox 360.
Such a thing would be great for Avalanche, as according to its founder, Christofer Sundberg, the studio is expecting that some of its projects may appear directly on new devices, and not the ones that are currently up for sale.
"It's actually quite an interesting subject for us - because when we worked on Just Cause 1, the Xbox 360 came out [at around the same time]. We had to do the 360 version in six months. It's an interesting place again right now, where the projects we're working on today might be coming out on [Microsoft's] next technology."
Sundberg went on to admit that Avalanche's central engine team believes Microsoft is working on something new, but that the company hasn't confirmed anything at all, so we shouldn't take it as a confirmation or anything like that.
A Xbox 720 or PlayStation 4 wouldn't be all that bad, as Sundberg says that the current technologies are scalable and allow for an easier point of entry into game development, and the next ones will keep it that way.
While emphasizing that he doesn't know anything about any next generation console, Sundberg says that almost everyone involved in the industry agrees that there won't be any optical disc compatibility.
If this comes true, then games will arrive only as digital downloads, meaning high speed Internet access is going to be pretty much mandatory if you actually want to get new, full games and not just smaller, downloadable ones.